Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009) 237–252 brill.nl/gr2p China’s Non-Intervention Question Zhongying Pang Received 31 August 2008; accepted 5 November 2008 Abstract While it continues to adhere to the rule of ‘non-interference/non-intervention’ in the internal aff airs of other countries, in a rapidly changing world, a steadily rising China is exploring how it can play a more constructive role in relation to international engagement with major political and humanitarian crises. Th e transformation of China’s role in relation to international interven- tion has been driven by the nation’s growing integration into the global political economy. To date, however, China has still not become deeply involved in unilateral or multilateral coercive intervention, but has in recent times selectively participated in international eff orts mandated by the UN Security Council and has also joined or organized many regional eff orts. Facing big chal- lenges, great pressures and many uncertainties, China has to balance its traditional commitment to ‘non-interference’ with its responsibilities as a great power. Keywords 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, United Nations Security Council, UN Secretary- General’s High-Level Panel on Th reats, Challenges and Change, UN Peacekeeping, UN Charter, African Union (AU), Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Darfur, Myanmar, North Korea, humanitarian intervention, principle of non-interference, United States Although there are many aspects of continuity, Chinese foreign policy has changed in many important respects. One of the most notable ways in which Chinese foreign policy has changed can be seen in its evolving attitude and practice towards international engagement with political and humanitarian crises. Nowadays, it is well understood that China has been rising as a global economic and political power. It is increasingly a force to be reckoned with in relation to the global economy and international security. China’s new eco- nomic power has been felt in global trade negotiations, a key role in dealing with global fi nancial turmoil, and its multilateral diplomacy goes beyond the United Nations Security Council, where China holds a permanent seat. As part of its more assertive role in world politics, China is forging new economic and strategic partnerships with the United States, European Union, ASEAN, Russia, Africa as well as recently Japan. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI 10.1163/187598409X424315 238 Z . Pang / Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009) 237–252 Unlike other great powers from the West and elsewhere, China plays a unique role in international cooperation and confl ict because its adherence to the principle of ‘non-interference’ in the domestic aff airs of other countries has conditioned and constrained its direct and big involvement with, or responses to, international crises, confl icts and their settlement. Indeed, China has long observed and defended the principle of ‘non-interference’ or ‘non- intervention’ and is widely known as the principle’s main adherent. Today, China continues to use the principle to resist the Western intervention into its own domestic politics. Moreover, in its bilateral and multilateral relations with many developing and non-western countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, China continuously and repeatedly insists that it will not abandon these prin- ciples but instead maintain them – a position which has generally been well received in the developing world. Beneath its persistent rhetorical commitment to non-interference and non- intervention, however, in practice it seems that China is changing its position in relation to international engagement with political and humanitarian crises and is rethinking its stance on international intervention. Most notably, since the end of the Cold War, China has gradually become increasingly involved in multilateral interventions mandated and organized either by the UN or other appropriate regional organizations operating with the UN Security Council. As a result, China has become one of the largest troop contributing countries to UN peace operations, contributing more troops to UN operations than the other permanent members of the Security Council with the exception of France. China has also made a commitment to assist in supporting multilat- eral post-confl ict reconstruction eff orts in many ‘civil war’-torn states and societies. As the Chinese people gradually go global for business, education, travel and employment, the Chinese government has been forced to recognize that protecting growing Chinese overseas interests requires a more outward looking and engaging foreign policy that supports global and regional institu- tions that help resolve international/transnational disputes including such ones between the Chinese and others. In addition to China’s growing engage- ment with the UN, China and the US have been eff ectively exploring foreign policy and security cooperation in areas such as nuclear non-proliferation, anti-terrorism and other areas of shared concern. Within this context, while China does not endorse the new Western- initiated and promoted idea of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’, China has endorsed many international resolutions and statements, which have actually been infl uenced by the idea. Clearly, these practices are not fully consistent with the traditional ‘non-interference’ principle but there are signs that China’s understanding of this principle is beginning to change – and not only Z . Pang / Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009) 237–252 239 in relation to the Responsibility to Protect. For example, the ‘non-interference’ has been described as an unhelpful ‘burden’ upon China’s all important energy relations with the world. 1 Whether rapidly or slowly, therefore, China’s foreign policy in general, and its adherence to the principle of ‘non-interference’ in particular, are in a deep process of transition. As its economy grows and becomes more exposed to global risks and uncertainties, Chinese foreign policy makers are being forced to react to the changes and challenges at home and abroad. Th is raises the question of what the rise of China and the transformation of its foreign policy means for the global debate about international engagement and intervention in political and humanitarian crises. Th is article aims to examine China’s changing attitudes and policies towards international intervention and their implications for global cooperation. Th e fi rst part of the paper focuses on the transition of China’s commitment to the principles of non-interference and non-intervention, towards a new paradigm that is more accepting of interna- tional engagement and sometimes intervention in domestic aff airs. It argues that the principle of non-interference is now undergoing a profound change in Chinese thinking. Th e second part of the article explains why China has begun to rethink its position on non-interference and become increasingly tolerant towards intervention in the domestic aff airs of states. Th e third part raises several key questions about what all of this means for China’s role in interna- tional intervention. In the conclusion, the paper tries to defi ne China’s current position and future trajectory on the question of international intervention. Th e Transformation of China’s Commitment to Non-Interference Many China’s foreign policy principles were formed in the old times through 1950s to 1980s. Th e principle “non-interference” is such an example. It was formally established in 1950s together with other Chinese foreign policy prin- ciples such as the national sovereignty and its equality. Th ere has been no fundamental revision on it since then. In 1950s, China was in a fi rmly defensive position to help establish a post- Second World War international principle of “(mutual) non-interference” with other newly independent countries in Asia and Africa. But before the 1 Linda Jackobson, ‘Th e Burden of “Non-Interference”’, China Economic Quarterly , Q2, 2007, available at http://www.upi-fi ia.fi /doc/0351_ceq2007q2_021foreignpolicy.pdf (date accessed 1 October 2008). 240 Z . Pang / Global Responsibility to Protect 1 (2009) 237–252 emergence of the principle, China signifi cantly involved into the deadly Korean War. Although this, from 1950s to 1970s, China conducted a limited military and political intervention in Asia, especially reference to Southeast Asia. After the Korean War, China deadly got involved into the regional confl ict between then Indo-China countries and France and the United States, especially refer- ence to the Vietnam War. In addition to such confl icts, China had some inter- ventionist role in politically and morally supporting the international communist movement in some regional countries. Since the late 1970s and the almost the whole 1980s, China had played little substantial role in international intervention. After the opposition to the Soviet Union’s Afghanistan War and the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979, China formally declared its “independent foreign policy for peace” in 1982. Th e policy signifi cantly strengthened China’s “non-interference” position. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, under the tightened sanctions against China imposed by the West, in the whole 1990s, China strictly pursued a “low key” foreign strategy while contin- ued to resist the West’s interference into China’s domestic aff airs. But, since late 1990s, China’s attitude to international intervention has been